Ruby

Chapter 16: Ruby

Romain followed Laxus to the Blacksmith Shop.

Sigg Town had a fairly complete range of basic trades and could barely sustain itself.

It still had to rely on imports for many things.

For example, iron ingots and iron blocks. Sigg Town lacked independent smelting capabilities, which required technical support, sufficient manpower, and, most importantly, iron ore.

As far as Romain knew, even Grand Duke Armor-Splitting's duchy could only produce a little over three hundred tons of Iron Ingots a year.

Iron was exceedingly scarce, and naturally extremely valuable.

The currency conversion of this era was very simple.

1 Gold Coin exchanged for 10 Silver Coins, and 1 Silver Coin exchanged for 10 copper coins.

A single Gold Coin, containing two or three grams of gold, could only buy thirty to fifty jin of Iron Ingots.

Its price fluctuations were mainly affected by the quality of the Iron Ingots. Sometimes, even money could not buy them.

High-quality Iron Ingots could even sell for one Gold Coin per twenty jin, while Iron Ingots with too many impurities were difficult to sell at all.

Romain knew nothing about forging.

But that was fine.

Wasn't it just hammering iron? He would learn as he went.

Romain looked over the Iron Ingots Laxus had stockpiled. The blacksmith frankly admitted that he only bought inferior Iron Ingots, the kind where one Gold Coin could buy fifty-one jin.

Still, they were enough to meet Sigg Town's farmers' basic need for agricultural tools. They could not be too picky.

Before long, Sigg Town's carpenter arrived as well.

Romain said to the carpenter and blacksmith, "The Heavy Plows are of great importance. You must make them as quickly as possible. I'll have Mol send people to assist with the forging. Once it's done, I'll pay each of you an additional two Silver Coins—as much as half an ox—as a reward."

There was not much technical difficulty in making plows.

Simply put, a plow was a thick piece of iron. It did not need fine processing; they only needed to forge it into a rough shape.

Romain did not treat Laxus as brutally and harshly as he treated the farmers.

With only these two tradesmen available, Romain could not find anyone to replace them.

Besides, spring plowing was imminent, and the Heavy Plows could not be delayed.

That meant they would have to work day and night, sleeping at most a few hours before getting up to work again. The workload was enormous, so it was only natural to give them some money.

Neither man resisted the task and were very obedient. Still, Laxus said, "My lord, we don't have enough Iron Ingots."

Romain waved a hand. "Then reforge Sigg Town's existing plows. I need at least forty Heavy Plows."

Those light plows were useless now.

Heavy Plows turned the soil deeply, greatly affecting grain yields.

More importantly, land that originally needed to be plowed back and forth two or three times with light plows only needed to be plowed once with a Heavy Plow. It was somewhat slower, but overall farming efficiency improved.

"My lord, even then, it won't be enough. Each light plow only contains nine or ten jin of iron." Laxus had basic arithmetic skills.

Sigg Town had more than eighty light plows. Including the seven damaged ones, their total weight would be no more than nine hundred jin.

Moreover, considerable losses would occur during reforging, and some might even become unusable. The utilization rate would absolutely not exceed sixty percent, so the shortfall was far too great.

Even if they only forged forty Heavy Plows, they would need more than twelve hundred jin of iron.

Romain hesitated, wondering whether he should melt down Green's steel greatsword and full suit of armor.

The main purpose of Heavy Plows was deep tilling. Wooden plows with only a thin layer of iron sheeting over the tip could achieve a similar effect, but their wear rate was high. If they struck a stone, they were finished. Only pure iron plows with sufficient hardness and strength could truly turn over the entire layer of soil.

At that moment, Laxus respectfully said, "My lord, the merchant ships at Sigg Town's dock should have iron blocks. You can buy some from him."

He had chatted with the merchant named Morey and knew that there was iron on his ship.

Trade in this era mainly involved salt, iron, and cloth, but only merchants of status could conduct such business.

Upon hearing this, Romain immediately set off for outside Sigg Town.

At the dock on the Bro River, he spotted several of Morey's merchant ships moored there from afar.

Morey also noticed Romain approaching with a group of people and was immediately terrified.

Had that foul-tempered Witch been caught by Romain and then sold him out?

In the moment of crisis, Morey's mind raced as he came up with three possible responses. The best option was to kneel and beg for mercy, claiming that the Witch had coerced him; the middling option was to spend money to save his life and buy his way out; the worst option was to act as though nothing had happened and deny everything to the death.

Morey sadly realized that while the first two options were locally optimal, they might not be globally optimal.

So, trembling with unease, he went forward while pretending to be confused.

After learning why Romain had come, Morey's hanging heart immediately settled, and he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

That movement looked somewhat familiar to Romain.

He quickly thought of Agricultural Officer Mol.

Because of his guilty conscience and weak kidneys, that fellow would involuntarily sweat every time he saw Romain, as though he feared Romain would throw him into a pigsty.

It was normal for Mol to have that problem, but why did this Morey seem guilty?

However, Romain had come to do business, not dig into the matter. After asking around, he learned that the final batch of cargo on Morey's ship happened to be four hundred and fifty jin of Iron Ingots.

But these Iron Ingots were very high quality. One Gold Coin could only buy thirty jin, so buying them all would cost fifteen Gold Coins.

Romain frowned.

He only had around twenty Gold Coins in cash at the moment.

After thinking for two seconds, he took a bright, eye-catching red gemstone from his robe, glittering with exquisite and captivating radiance.

"What is this?" Morey's pupils contracted.

"A ruby. You should know its effects. It can make weak people strong. A ruby of this quality should be worth fifteen Gold Coins." Romain tossed the ruby to Morey.

It was a birth gift Grand Duke Armor-Splitting had given him when he was born.

If he gave it to an ordinary merchant, Romain would feel that the person could not protect such a treasure. But Morey, the son of a major merchant, could certainly put it to good use.

Morey was shocked by Romain's decision.

To humans who were not superhumans, such a gemstone was truly extremely precious. It could nourish its wearer's body, strengthen their physique, and help them become superhumans sooner.

The process was merely lengthy, and the price was not too high. Even a ruby of relatively high purity was worth only fifteen Gold Coins, while defective ones were worth merely a few Gold Coins.

Generally speaking, few people used gemstones for trade.

It was better to pass them down to their descendants.

Some minor nobles or impoverished knights would guard such hereditary treasures even if they had to sell their fiefs. Perhaps another knight might emerge among their descendants one day.

Yet Romain had thrown it out so casually.

Morey was startled, then assumed a solemn expression and said, "Honored lord, your funds are currently somewhat tight, but I have no doubt about your ability to govern. This land possesses enormous potential for development. Please allow me to make a humble contribution to the construction of your territory. I offer these four hundred and fifty jin of Iron Ingots in exchange for your friendship. As for this ruby, I absolutely cannot accept it..."

Morey held the ruby in both hands and presented it before Romain. At that moment, he faintly caught a whiff of something foul.

At first, he assumed it was coming from the blacksmith and carpenter behind Romain, but after moving closer, he discovered that the smell came from Romain himself. It was as though this noble lord had fallen into a cesspit or played with manure for two hours.

So Morey regretted it again. This seemed rather unreliable, didn't it?